Facebook Exec Admits Impossible to Weed Out Hate Content Completely

Over 170 million people in Africa access FaceBook each month, 94% being on mobile. (Photo Credit: New Vision Uganda)

With the growing debate around spread of violence and crime-related content on Facebook, a top executive of the social media giant has said that it is impossible to completely weed out such content from the platform.

There have been several incidents on Facebook where Live videos broadcast murders, rapes, suicides and other crimes.

Facebook has been criticised for not doing enough to prevent videos showing violent incidents, including a murder in Cleveland, Ohio, and a killing of a baby in Thailand, from spreading on the social network.

“There are bad things that are going to happen. That is reality. That is life. Facebook is a reflection of that life. It is our ob to make the community as safe as possible,” Everson said.

The social media giant has created a “blacklist” for websites that includes content which will not be allowed to advertise in-stream during videos, on Instant Articles and through its Audience Network of websites it serves ads to.

The brands can also opt out of advertising on certain videos.

“Facebook is a safe place for brands, let me start there. The second thing I would say is we have zero tolerance, zero tolerance for hate speech and terrorism. There is no place for any of that on our platforms, and we have already made a commitment,” Everson noted.